


Keeper's Ring

by Sixylicious



Series: Halla, Hawk, and Fox [7]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-10 22:28:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4410200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sixylicious/pseuds/Sixylicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An earring and a ring; two promises as they face the upcoming Landsmeet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeper's Ring

He'd given her the earring in Howe's dungeon and she'd simply accepted it, her thoughts in too much of a whirl to understand what it really meant. Now Howe was dead, his prisoners and Queen Anora freed, and though she and Alistair had been captured they had managed to escape Fort Drakon. Valythari lay in her bed at Arl Eamon's Denerim estate, cuddled into her lover's side and in and out of sleep. Zevran trailed his fingers through her hair, content like this and for once not wanting anything more. 

She was curious though. "Zev?" she asked, shifting just a bit so she could look up at him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, cara."

"Taliesen, you mentioned him before, along with her. He meant a lot to you too, didn't he?"

Zevran nodded, though after a moment he realized Valythari couldn't see his response and spoke instead. "He did. They both did. The three of us, we grew up together... we were inseparable until that day."

His warden's gaze was sympathetic, understanding. He knew she wouldn't press him, that when he was ready to tell her everything she would listen. "Like Tamlen..."

"Yes, like Tamlen to you."

"You told me you loved her, but you loved him too didn't you?" she asked.

"I did... In a way, it was only fitting that they sent him to retrieve me."

Valythari sat up and pressed her lips to his cheek. "I'm sorry it ended like it did. But his actions brought you to me and I won't be sorry for that."

Zevran smiled and returned the kiss, trailing his fingers across her ear where she had made him pierce it so she could wear his earring. "Don't be. I'm grateful for that."

She pulled away a bit and slid one of her rings off, a slender piece of willow carved with images of foxes and hares. "I told you about this, didn't I?"

"I don't believe you have," he responded, though he allowed her to slip it on his finger anyway.

"The Keeper gave this to me right before I left, so I would always remember my clan," Valythari explained. "I want you to have it."

Zevran smiled, surprised but also touched by the sentiment behind it.

She rested her head back on his chest, letting out a soft sigh. "You've done so much for me," she murmured, the Elvhen flowing from her lips causing Zevran to pause. He wished for a moment that he could speak her native language, if just so he could understand her. "Ma serannas, vhenan."

That was one word he did know. She used it often enough. Vhenan, heart, what she'd always called Tamlen. Was she saying she loved him? She spoke again a moment later, this time so he could understand.

"Thank you, Zev... I love you."

He raised his hand to trail his fingers through her hair again. Part of him was afraid, he couldn't deny that, but those few words also filled him with such happiness that they outweighed the fear. "As do I, amor," he finally said, unaware that she had drifted off to sleep in his arms. "As do I."

Tomorrow they would prepare more for the Landsmeet, but for tonight they had each other.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time Valythari tells Zevran that she loves him. Looking back, this is also when she considers them to have been bonded.


End file.
